Assessment of land degradation in Inner Mongolia between 2000 and 2020 based on remote sensing data

Achieving land degradation neutrality(LDN)worldwide is a significant target of the Sustainable Development Goal(SDG15.3).Inner Mongolia,as a typical dryland region in northern China,has carried out several large-scale ecological restoration programs to combat land degradation.However,there is a lack of comprehensive assess-ment of its land degradation situation after ecological programs implementation,which is of great significance to supporting SDG15.3 in China.This study analyzed the land degradation situation using the improved SDG15.3.1 calculation framework based on fine resolution data in Inner Mongolia from 2000 to 2020,and finally compre-hensively evaluated the land status of the whole region and those subject to ecological programs.The results show that net land restoration proportion of various ecological project regions and whole region continues to increase.The scope of the Grain for Green Program(GGP)had the largest proportion of net land restoration while the Natural Reserve Program(NRP)had the lowest proportion from 2000 to 2020.The net land restoration area of Inner Mongolia during 2000-2010 and 2010-2020 was 35,800 km 2 and 65,300 km 2,respectively.Overall,Inner Mongolia has achieved statistically zero growth in land degradation under the governance of ecological restora-tion programs.Therefore,reasonable planning,well monitoring,and timely assessment of ecological restoration programs are crucial to support SDG15.3.

Some essential questions in remote sensing science and technology

In this paper,I propose a personal view on the general contents of remote sensing science and technology,which includes sensor research and manufacturing,remotely sensed data acquisition,data processing,information extraction and remote sensing applications.Serving as the basis for all these components is radiative transfer process modeling and inversion.Also of importance is the effective visualization of remotely sensed data and their efficient distribution to end users.In all these areas,there are critical research questions.In particular,I consider 4 fundamental areas for improved application of remote sensing.These include the scale and angular issues in remote sensing,removal of topographic effects on the radiance and geometry of remotely sensed imagery and the related question of multisource and multitemporal data registration,integrating knowledge and remotely sensed data into effective information extraction,and four dimensional data assimilation techniques.Strategies of information extraction can be broadly divided into manual visual analysis and computer-based analysis.The computer based information analysis include radiative transfer model inversion,image classification,regression analysis,three dimensional information extraction,shape analysis and change detection.Successful information extraction is the key to the success of remote sensing.There are many important issues that need to be solved including how to make better use of the spatial and temporal data present in remotely sensed data in information extraction.How to effectively combine the strength of both computer analysis and human interpretation? Finally,4D data assimilation is the new direction that allows for the integration of instantaneous observation with process-based climate,hydrological and ecological models.Further work along this direction will enhance the contribution of remote sensing in global change studies.In return,the quality of remotely sensed parameters can be improved.

The application of hyperspectral remote sensing to coast environment investigation

Requirements for monitoring the coastal zone environment are first summarized.Then the application of hyperspectral remote sensing to coast environment investigation is introduced,such as the classification of coast beaches and bottom matter,target recognition,mine detection,oil spill identification and ocean color remote sensing.Finally,what is needed to follow on in application of hyperspectral remote sensing to coast environment is recommended.

3D Model Construction and Ecological Environment Investigation on a Regional Scale Using UAV Remote Sensing

The acquisition of digital regional-scale information and ecological environmental data has high requirements for structural texture,spatial res-olution,and multiple parameter categories,which is challenging to achieve using satellite remote sensing.Considering the convenient,facilitative,and flexible characteristics of UAV(unmanned air vehicle)remote sensing tech-nology,this study selects a campus as a typical research area and uses the Pegasus D2000 equipped with a D-MSPC2000 multi-spectral camera and a CAM3000 aerial camera to acquire oblique images and multi-spectral data.Using professional software,including Context Capture,ENVI,and ArcGIS,a 3D(three-dimensional)campus model,a digital orthophoto map,and multi-spectral remote sensing map drawing are realized,and the geometric accuracy of typical feature selection is evaluated.Based on a quantitative remote sensing model,the campus ecological environment assessment is performed from the perspectives of vegetation and water body.The results presented in this study could be of great significance to the scientific management and sustainable development of regional natural resources.

RESEARCH ON THE LOCAL CORRECTION MODEL OF ATMOSPHERIC DRY DELAY IN GPS REMOTE SENSING WATER VAPOR

The precision of atmospheric dry delay model is closely correlated with the accuracy of GPS water vapor in the process of GPS (Global Position System) remote sensing. Radiosonde data (from 1996 to 2001) at Qingyuan are used to calculate the exact values of the atmospheric dry delay. Base on these calculations and the surface meteorological parameters, the local year and month correction models of dry delay at the zenith angle of 0° are established by statistical methods. The analysis result shows that the local model works better and is slight more sensitive to altitude angle than universal models and that it is not necessary to build models for each month due to the slight difference between year model and month model. Furthermore, when the altitude angle is less than 75°, the difference between curve path and straight path increases rapidly with altitude angle’s decrease.

Remote Sensing-based Spatiotemporal Distribution of Grassland Aboveground Biomass and Its Response to Climate Change in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region

The grassland in the Hindu Kush Himalayan(HKH) region is one of the large st and most biodiverse mountain grassland types in the world,and its ecosystem service functions have profound impacts on the sustainable development of the HKH region.Monitoring the spatiotemporal distribution of grassland aboveground biomass(AGB) accurately and quantifying its response to climate change are indispensable sources of information for sustainably managing grassland ecosystems in the HKH region.In this study,a pure vegetation index model(PVIM) was applied to estimate the long-term dynamics of grassland AGB in the HKH region during 2000-2018.We further quantified the response of grassland AGB to climate change(temperature and precipitation) by partial correlation and variance partitioning analyses and then compared their differences with elevation.Our results demonstrated that the grassland AGB predicted by the PVIM had a good linear relationship with the ground sampling data.The grassland AGB distribution pattern showed a decreasing trend from east to west across the HKH region except in the southern Himalayas.From 2000 to 2018,the mean AGB of the HKH region increased at a rate of 1.57 g/(m~2·yr) and ranged from 252.9(2000) to 307.8 g/m~2(2018).AGB had a positive correlation with precipitation in more than 80% of the grassland,and temperature was positively correlated with AGB in approximately half of the region.The change in grassland AGB was more responsive to the cumulative effect of annual precipitation,while it was more sensitive to the change in temperature in the growing season;in addition,the influence of climate varied at different elevations.Moreover,compared with that of temperature,the contribution of precipitation to grassland AGB change was greater in approximately 60% of the grassland,but the differences in the contribution for each climate factor were small between the two temporal scales at elevations over 2000 m.An accurate assessment of the temporal and spatial distributions of grassland AGB and the quantification of its response to climate change are of great significance for grassland management and sustainable development in the HKH region.

Responses of Alpine Wetlands to Climate Changes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Based on Remote Sensing

The alpine wetlands in QTP(Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau)have been profoundly impacted along with global climate changes.We employ satellite datasets and climate data to explore the relationships between alpine wetlands and climate changes based on remote sensing data.Results show that:1)the wetland NDVI(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index)and GPP(Gross Primary Production)were more sensitive to air temperature than to precipitation rate.The wetland ET(evapotranspiration)across alpine wetlands was greatly correlated with precipitation rate.2)Alpine wetlands responses to climate changes varied spatially and temporally due to different geographic environments,variety of wetland formation and human disturbances.3)The vegetation responses of the Zoige wetland was the most noticeable and related to the temperature,while the GPP and NDVI of the Qiangtang Plateau and Gyaring-Ngoring Lake were significantly correlated with both temperature and precipitation.4)ET in the Zoige wetland showed a significantly positive trend,while ET in Maidika wetland and the Qiangtang plateau showed a negative trend,implying wetland degradation in those two wetland regions.The complexities of the impacts of climate changes on alpine wetlands indicate the necessity of further study to understand and conserve alpine wetland ecosystems.

Retrieval of canopy biophysical variables from remote sensing data using contextual information

In order to improve the accuracy of biophysical parameters retrieved from remotely sensing data, a new algorithm was presented by using spatial contextual to estimate canopy variables from high-resolution remote sensing images. The developed algorithm was used for inversion of leaf area index (LAI) from Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data by combining with optimization method to minimize cost functions. The results show that the distribution of LAI is spatially consistent with the false composition imagery from ETM+ and the accuracy of LAI is significantly improved over the results retrieved by the conventional pixelwise retrieval methods, demonstrating that this method can be reliably used to integrate spatial contextual information for inverting LAI from high-resolution remote sensing images.

Geometric calibration of high-resolution remote sensing sensors

This paper introduces the applications of high-resolution remote sensing imagery and the necessity of geometric calibration for remote sensing sensors considering assurance of the geometric accuracy of remote sensing imagery. Then the paper analyzes the general methodology of geometric calibration. Taking the DMC sensor geometric calibration as an example, the paper discusses the whole calibration procedure. Finally, it gave some concluding remarks on geometric calibration of high-resolution remote sensing sensors.

Spatio-Temporal Dynamics and Evolution of Land Use Land Cover Using Remote Sensing and GIS in Sebou Estuary, Morocco

Land use and land cover (LULC) represent the ongoing challenge of environmental variation. The understanding of the level and process of its change is the basis for any environmental planning and management. In Morocco, as everywhere in the world, human population densities are constantly increasing on the coastal zones. This results in a continuous and rapid acceleration of the use of coastal space and an increase in pressures on ecosystems and the different species they contain. The purpose of this study is the analysis of the changes in LULC from 1985 to 2017 in the coastal area of Sebou estuary, situated in the Northwest of the Moroccan Atlantic coast. The changes were identified and assessed after classifying a series of Landsat images taken during 1985, 2002 and 2017. The algorithm used for the classification is the Support Vector Machine (SVM), which yielded results with accuracy higher than 85%. The results of the land use land cover change describe phenomenal urbanization and deforestation, as well as an evolution of the agricultural sector, indicating the impact of anthropization in this vulnerable environment.

Atmospheric radiative transfer simulation for at mospheric correction of remote sensing data

The radiance leaving the earth-atmosphere system which can be sensed by a satellite borne radiometer is the sum of radiation emission from the earth surface and each atmospheric level that are transmitted to the top of the atmosphere. The radiation emission from the earth surface and the radiance of each atmospheric level can be separated from the radiance at the top the atmospheric level measured by a satellite borne radiometer. However, it is very difficult to measure the atmospheric radiance, especially the synchronous measurement with the satellite. Thus some atmospheric radiative transfer models have been developed to provide many options for modeling atmospheric radiation transport, such as LOWTRAN, MODTRAN, 6S, FASCODE, LBLRTM, SHARC, and SAMM. Meanwhile, these models can support the detailed detector system design, the optimization and evaluation of satellite mission parameters, and the data processing procedures. As an example, the newly atmospheric radiative transfer models, MODTRAN will be compared with other models after the atmospheric radiative transfer is described. And the atmospheric radiative transfer simulation procedures and their applications to atmospheric transmittance, retrieval of atmospheric elements, and surface parameters, will also be presented.

Assessing Reclamation Levels of Coastal Saline Lands with Integrated Stepwise Discriminant Analysis and Laboratory Hyperspectral Data

At different times over the past 30 years in Zhejiang Province, China, the coastal tidelands have been successively enclosed and reclaimed for agricultural land use. The purpose of this work was to evaluate whether laboratory hyperspectral data might be used to estimate the physicochemical characteristics of these reclaimed saline soils. A coastal region of Shangyu City (Zhejiang Province), which was grouped into four subzones according to reclamation history, was used as the study area, and soil samples were collected in each subzone. Physicochemical analyses showed that the soils were characterized by high electrical conductivity and sand content with low organic matter; the longer the saline lands had been reclaimed, the lower were the electrical conductivity and sand content and the higher the organic matter content. These changing trends of soil chemical and physical properties were found in laboratory reflectance spectra of soil samples and their first-order derivative curves. Stepwise discriminant analysis (SDA) identified six salient spectral bands at 488, 530, 670, 880, 1400, and 1900 nm. Using derived discriminant functions for saline lands with different historical years of reclamation, classification revealed an overall accuracy from a self-test of 86.6% and from cross-validation of 89.3%. Therefore, as opposed to time-consuming field investigations, this study suggested that remotely sensed hyperspectral data could serve as a promising measure to assess the reclamation levels of coastal saline lands.

Human Settlement Evaluation in Mountain Areas Based on Remote Sensing,GIS and Ecological Niche Modeling

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the world's highest and largest plateau.Due to increasing demands for environment exploration and tourism,a large transitional area is required for altitude adaptation.Hehuang valley,which locates in the transition zone between the Loess Plateau and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,has convenient transportation and relatively low elevation.Our question is whether the geographic conditions here are appropriate for adapted stay before going into the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Therefore,in this study,we examined the potential use of ecological niche modeling(ENM) for mapping current and potential distribution patterns of human settlements.We chose the Maximum Entropy Method(Maxent),an ENM which integrates climate,remote sensing and geographical data,to model distributions and assess land suitability for transition areas.After preprocessing and selection,the correlation between variables and spatial autocorrelation input data were removed and 106 occurrence points and 9 environmental layers were determined as the model inputs.The thresholdindependent model performance was reasonable according to 10 times model running,with the area under the curve(AUC) values being 0.917 ± 0.01,and 0.923 ± 0.002 for test data.Cohen's kappa coefficient of model performance was 0.848.Results showed that 82.22% of the study extent was not suitable for human settlement.Of the remaining areas,highly suitable areas accounted for 1.19%,moderately for 5.3% and marginally for 11.28%.These suitable areas totaled 418.79 km 2,and 86.25% of the sample data was identified in the different gradient of suitable area.The decisive environmental factors were slope and two climate variables:mean diurnal temperature range and temperature seasonality.Our model showed a good performance in mapping and assessing human settlements.This study provides the first predicted potential habitat distribution map for human settlement in Ledu County,which could also help in land use management.

Changes in Global Cloud Cover Based on Remote Sensing Data from 2003 to 2012

As is well known,clouds impact the radiative budget,climate change,hydrological processes,and the global carbon,nitrogen and sulfur cycles.To understand the wide-ranging effects of clouds,it is necessary to assess changes in cloud cover at high spatial and temporal resolution.In this study,we calculate global cloud cover during the day and at night using cloud products estimated from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)data.Results indicate that the global mean cloud cover from 2003 to 2012 was 66%.Moreover,global cloud cover increased over this recent decade.Specifically,cloud cover over land areas(especially North America,Antarctica,and Europe)decreased(slope=–0.001,R^2=0.5254),whereas cloud cover over ocean areas(especially the Indian and Pacific Oceans)increased(slope=0.0011,R^2=0.4955).Cloud cover is relatively high between the latitudes of 36°S and 68°S compared to other regions,and cloud cover is lowest over Oceania and Antarctica.The highest rates of increase occurred over Southeast Asia and Oceania,whereas the highest rates of decrease occurred over Antarctica and North America.The global distribution of cloud cover regulates global temperature change,and the trends of these two variables over the 10-year period examined in this study(2003–2012)oppose one another in some regions.These findings are very important for studies of global climate change.

Edge Enhancement for Remote Sensing Image Using Norm Algorithm in L_2 Vector Space

The Householder transformation-norm structure function in L2 vector space of linear algebra is introduced, and the edge enhancement for remote sensing images is realized. The experiment result is compared with traditional Laplacian and Sobel edge enhancements and it shows that the effect of the new method is better than that of the traditional algorithms.

Roughness correction method for salinity remote sensing using combined active/passive observations

Roughness-induced emission from ocean surfaces is one of the main issues that affects the retrieval accuracy of sea surface salinity remote sensing.In previous studies,the correction of roughness effect mainly depended on wind speeds retrieved from scatterometers or those provided by other means,which necessitates a high requirement for accuracy and synchronicity of wind-speed measurements.The aim of this study is to develop a novel roughness correction model of ocean emissivity for the salinity retrieval application.The combined active/passive observations of normalized radar cross-sections(NRCSs)and emissivities from ocean surfaces given by the L-band Aquarius/SAC-D mission,and the auxiliary wind directions collocated from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction(NCEP)dataset are used for model development.The model is validated against the observations and the Aquarius standard algorithms of roughness-induced emissivity correction.Comparisons between model computations and measurements indicate that the model has better accuracy in computing wind-induced brightness temperature in the upwind/downwind directions or for the surfaces with smaller NRCSs,which can be better than 0.3 K.However,for crosswind directions and larger NRCSs,the model accuracy is relatively low.A model using HH-polarized NRCSs yields better accuracy than that using VV-polarized ones.For a fair comparison to the Aquarius standard algorithms using wind speeds retrieved from multi-source data,the maximum likelihood estimation is employed to produce results combining our model calculations and those using other sources.Numerical simulations show that combined results basically have higher accuracy than the standard algorithms.

Land Degradation Evaluation in North Hebei Province Based on Remote Sensing and GIS

Land degradation is one of the serious environmental problems that can lead to poverty, and is especially prominent in eco-fragile areas in developing countries and increases the risk of environmental safety. North Hebei Province belongs to an ecologically fragile region in North China, which has great impact on the eco-safety of Beijing and Tianjin. Using Landsat TM data and GIS, this paper evaluates land degradation in North Hebei province of China from the the 1960′s to 1987 and 2000. Land use/cover change pattern from 1987 to 2000, its regional difference and forest change characteristics will also be analyzed; soil erosion intensity and arable land suitability were also evaluated. Results revealed that land use/cover pattern in this study area did not change greatly from 1987 to 2000. The structure and function of regional land ecosystem was at a level of local improvement and integral deterioration. Land above medium soil erosion intensity reached 21 percent, which was also the area with a serious soil erosion and land degradation problem. Soil erosion and land degradation intensity of grassland was the biggest. For the present arable land, the proportion of high suitability was 13 percent.

Enhanced soil moisture improves vegetation growth in an arid grassland of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China

Climate change impacts on grasslands that cover a quarter of the global land area, have become unprecedented during the 21~(st) century. One of the important ecological realms, arid grasslands of northern China, which occupy more than 70% of the region's land area. However, the impact of climate change on vegetation growth in these arid grasslands is not consistent and lacks corresponding quantitative research. In this study, NDVI(normalized difference vegetation index) and climate factors including temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, soil moisture, and meteorological drought were analyzed to explore the determinants of changes in grassland greenness in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region(northern China) during 1982–2016. The results showed that grasslands in Inner Mongolia witnessed an obvious trend of seasonal greening during the study period. Two prominent climatic factors,precipitation and soil moisture accounted for approximately 33% and 27% of grassland NDVI trends in the region based on multiple linear regression and boosted regression tree methods. This finding highlights the impact of water constraints to vegetation growth in Inner Mongolia's grasslands. The dominant role of precipitation in regulating grassland NDVI trends in Inner Mongolia significantly weakened from 1982 to 1996, and the role of soil moisture strengthened after 1996. Our findings emphasize the enhanced importance of soil moisture in driving vegetation growth in arid grasslands of Inner Mongolia, which should be thoroughly investigated in the future.

Cloud Top Pressure Retrieval Using Polarized and Oxygen A-band Measurements from GF5 and PARASOL Satellites

Cloud top pressure(CTP)is one of the critical cloud properties that significantly affects the radiative effect of clouds.Multi-angle polarized sensors can employ polarized bands(490 nm)or O_(2)A-bands(763 and 765 nm)to retrieve the CTP.However,the CTP retrieved by the two methods shows inconsistent results in certain cases,and large uncertainties in low and thin cloud retrievals,which may lead to challenges in subsequent applications.This study proposes a synergistic algorithm that considers both O_(2)A-bands and polarized bands using a random forest(RF)model.LiDAR CTP data are used as the true values and the polarized and non-polarized measurements are concatenated to train the RF model to determine CTP.Additionally,through analysis,we proposed that the polarized signal becomes saturated as the cloud optical thickness(COT)increases,necessitating a particular treatment for cases where COT<10 to improve the algorithm's stability.The synergistic method was then applied to the directional polarized camera(DPC)and Polarized and Directionality of the Earth’s Reflectance(POLDER)measurements for evaluation,and the resulting retrieval accuracy of the POLDER-based measurements(RMSEPOLDER=205.176 hPa,RMSEDPC=171.141 hPa,R^(2)POLDER=0.636,R^(2)DPC=0.663,respectively)were higher than that of the MODIS and POLDER Rayleigh pressure measurements.The synergistic algorithm also showed good performance with the application of DPC data.This algorithm is expected to provide data support for atmosphere-related fields as an atmospheric remote sensing algorithm within the Cloud Application for Remote Sensing,Atmospheric Radiation,and Updating Energy(CARE)platform.

Toward Establishing a Low-cost UAV Coordinated Carbon Observation Network(LUCCN):First Integrated Campaign in China

In this study,we introduce our newly developed measurement-fed-perception self-adaption Low-cost UAV Coordinated Carbon Observation Network(LUCCN)prototype.The LUCCN primarily consists of two categories of instruments,including ground-based and UAV-based in-situ measurement.We use the GMP343,a low-cost non-dispersive infrared sensor,in both ground-based and UAV-based instruments.The first integrated measurement campaign took place in Shenzhen,China,4 May 2023.During the campaign,we found that LUCCN’s UAV component presented significant data-collecting advantages over its ground-based counterpart owing to the relatively high altitudes of the point emission sources,which was especially obvious at a gas power plant in Shenzhen.The emission flux was calculated by a crosssectional flux(CSF)method,the results of which differed from the Open-Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide(ODIAC).The CSF result was slightly larger than others because of the low sampling rate of the whole emission cross section.The LUCCN system will be applied in future carbon monitoring campaigns to increase the spatiotemporal coverage of carbon emission information,especially in scenarios involving the detection of smaller-scale,rapidly varying sources and sinks.